A comprehensive analysis of gene expression profiles in the anther tapetum of Arabidopsis using laser capture microdissection

Abstract

The anther tapetum, which lies the most inner layer of anther locule, is believed to play important roles in pollen development and fertility, but the function of tapetum remains unclear. In addition, tapetum is known to undergo programmed cell death (PCD) and is degraded during pollen maturation, although it is unclear what triggers PCD.
To analyze the functions of the tapetum, we produced transcriptomes of Arabidopsis anthers using laser capture microdissection (LCM) strategy. The anther tapetum, microspores and anther wall cells from Arabidopsis buds were separately isolated using LCM, and then comparative cDNA microarray were performed. Some examples of genes which show tapetum-specific expression will be shown.